Farmhunter's Habitat Managment and Improvements

[OkieKubota]

then during the week -I went up to pick blue berries - I had meant to get them on Sunday but forgot!! worked out good - got enough to make 12 1/2 pints of Blueberry Jelly -

This weekend I'll start the blackberry harvest - looks like it will be a bumper crop! The blackberries are all wild - never planted a one of them - but in my spruce planting they are king!!

I make jellys to share at camp and at Christmas with fruit I grow at the farm (Concord grapes, Elderberry, Blackberry, and blueberry).
I don't do anything with the apples - but am seriously thinking about a cider press at least.

I simply LOVE wild Blackberries! It is great that you can get so many great soft mast edible to Humans off of your place!

Great Thread - looking forward to following along!

 

[Flyfixer]

Nice looking bucks! You have some great looking plots and stands, should be a productive season this year! No shortage of food for your critters.

 

[lakngolf]

Those fields are so beautiful. It is crazy how varied planting and production times all for all of us. Our Blackberrys are mid June, and Blueberrys just after that.

 

[Triple C]

Beautiful piece of property! Plots look fantastic. Nice looking jeep.

 

[Bowhunter]

Awesome thread!

Good to see another guy from New York doing the same thing that I do. Amazing looking property you have there.

 

[Chad Hauenstein]

Very nice property.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Great thread. You've all been quite busy and it will pay off. Absolutely love the cabin too.

 

[farmhunter]

Thank you for the comments - I'm up late tonight because I canned tomato sauce and I'm waiting on the 45 minute waterbath!

so over the weekend - we put in the last plot - a red clover 1/2 acre with oats and a few brassicas. Its a section of the field we ran out of beans on - so its just been laying fallow. No pics of that plot yet - but I did take quite a few pictures of the plots to document their status. I've been doing this and keeping track for 16 year now and I still have to go back to pictures from previous years to remind myself WHEN I did certain things and how far along things were at specific times of the year- It really helps to be able compare from year to year!

Anyway - some 8-29-16 pics - (next we'll move a few treestands and get ready for Oct 1 Opening day bow!)

North Tower overlooking beans and corn

South Tower almost done! Time to move out the old black box and steel scaffolding.

Goldenrod bedding acre between Spruce planting and South Tower -

One of the Turnip/clover strips -

Beans and corn strip -

Sanctuary oats overseeded on clover.with a few brassicas

John Brushogging with the WD - My uncle rebuilt the Hydrolic pump and flushed the radiator - good for another 20 years!

All the planting and 90% mowing is done!!!

 

[farmhunter]

Also we've named several bucks - we've Identified at least 7 shooter bucks for us (2.5 or older) and there are a couple we are not sure of.
Three of those are shooters at any time - here are recent pics -

Hugo

Buster's Boy

and Floyd

Barney, Stubby, Pitchfork and Skippy round out the list.so far

Scrape pics to look forward to!

 

[dogdoc]

Dang partner, tower blinds are awesome. They make mine look like out houses. Plots look awesome. Bucks are awesome.

You have one awesome place!!!
Todd

 

[dogghr]

Very nice on everything. Field of Goldens hard to beat. If you want to set them back, mow them now and growth very limited next few years.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Every thing looks Superb !! Impressive stack of sheds!!

 

[farmhunter]

thanks again - The beans are really getting pounded now. Funny how when I box them in with corn they use this last. I feel like the deer do not feel safe eating in the corners where they cannot see or smell danger. Sometimes my beans get hit so hard they don't make hunting season. I could probably use this behavior to plant so that less beans get pounded in the summer - but with plenty of beans this summer its not been a problem.

so here's a boxed in corner - on the NW side of the North Tower - the beans here are over hip high - almost everywhere else they are more like knee high at best

this section is a 1.5 acre block - all exposed and to the SW of the North Tower - its all browsed down a foot or more - but it did canopy - sometimes that don't happen!

this clover strip separates the two bean plots- I don't hadly need to mow this clover as its kept very trimmed!

this 1/2 acre block was the last planting we did (8.30.16). Its going to be oats/red clover, its also in the same field and sits furthest South of the North tower - the last acre south is just mowed goldenrod right now - over all the field is 5 acres

 

[farmhunter]

Over on the South end of the Property the South Tower is situated in the lower third of a 15 acre field that we'd split up into tree plantings and blocks and strips of plots. This field is a little more remote and the beans especially get hit hard. We plant clover here in several places to help keep the competition off the beans. I scouted from the South Tower last week, I was hoping to see some of the bucks I've come to know and several of them came into the checkerboard beans which is getting hit hard now - at least the pods are basically set,

in some of these pictures from my "scouting" trip you can really see the browsing on these beans!

Our 9 point (Buster's Boy) came in - along with Pitchfork, Gary, a couple smaller bucks and Skippy. Floyd, Barney and Hugo did not show for the party this night. Only a couple does came and went which is unusual for this field - probably all the bucks made them nervous.

Buster's Boy

Gary

Busters Boy with Gary

Skippy is a more slight 2.5 year old buck - here he is with Busters Boy

Here's Buster's Boy chasing off a young 6 point -

Here's pitchfork - hes an odd buck -he is Buster's Boy's buddy - they are together a lot -

eventually Skippy and Buster's Boy made it around to my back - and worked the Pin Oak I plated this year beyond my Grapes -

was a successful scouting trip! One I'm glad I did - the velvet is getting ready to come off - at times they even sparred a little.

 

[Elkaddict]

Great update and a nice crop of bucks. FYI, we got our first rubbed antler pics this weekend. It's that time of year

 

[farmhunter]

Great update and a nice crop of bucks. FYI, we got our first rubbed antler pics this weekend. It's that time of year

hoping for the same this weekend! Also hoping the bucks have stronger antlers this fall. Last year several got busted up fighting - I think they were thin from the previous winter -

 

[farmhunter]

Also hoping I can get a good picture of Floyd - he must be a nervous sucker - every picture of him is a blur or cut off!!

I think he's going to be a real nice buck this fall - he seems like the smallest of the top 3 - but I bet he's better than he looks -

Floyd

I think Hugo is as good as he looks - and I think he'll put on 20-30 more lbs over the next month

Heading to camp tomorrow to move 3 stands - and put up two blinds. Also - setting up the bow range - and checking cameras.

 

[farmhunter]

Finally got a good picture of Floyd - He's my 1st out of Velvet as well -

Stands and 2 ground blinds are set up and ready for 10/1.

 

[Flyfixer]

Great pics, lots of deer and some fine looking plots. All of the deer on my place still have their velvet.

 

[OkieKubota]

The bucks around us lost velvet by the 2nd of September...

Looks like you have it going on with all the food you are offering. Deer should be in great shape!